


Quietus

by Pureblood_Muggle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 11:58:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19767736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pureblood_Muggle/pseuds/Pureblood_Muggle
Summary: Scorpius, aware that his mother is destined to die of an old blood curse, is not ready to give up.





	Quietus

**Author's Note:**

> Written for round 2 of the Half Blood Prince Drabble Elimination Challenge. 
> 
> Round2  
> Prompt: Draught of Living Death  
> Pairing: Scorpius Malfoy/Bloody Baron
> 
> I don't own anything you recognise from JKR.   
> Thank you to my beta, Frumpologist.

Scorpius Malfoy was sweating. The heat outside the castle was unusually high this June and even penetrated the lower dungeons. He could’ve opened the door of the room he currently occupied but that would give him away to anyone passing by. That was out of the question.

He used his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead as he concentrated on counting exactly 7 anti-clockwise stirs. “C’mon work!” he urged under his breath. At the seventh stir, the potion in his cauldron should’ve taken on a pale pink colour to indicate being finished, but it stubbornly stayed deep purple. 

Scorpius angrily swiped at an escaped tear. He was not going to cry. He was not going to fall apart. He needed this to succeed. It had to, today, for tomorrow he returned home for the summer.

His pointed his wand at the cauldron. 

“Evanesco!” The potion still shimmered darkly at him. 

“Evanesco!” Scorpius fairly shouted. Still, it remained where it was.

“If I may?” 

Scorpius jumped up in fright not having heard anyone enter the room he was hiding in. He turned around to see the Slytherin ghost hanging in the air before him. Scorpius turned away and quickly wiped at his tears again.

“You appear distressed, young man,” the ghost stated in his tell-tale hoarse whisper. A whisper that seemed to boom around the room they were in. 

“Course not,” Scorpius replied, his own voice just as hoarse and his statement belied by a hiccup at the end. He felt his face turn crimson at the lie, as it always did, and he kept his face averted from the ghost. 

The Bloody Baron’s chains rattled a little as he spoke again. “Draught of Living Death. A difficult one. Another four years before you will learn to do it properly. No potion to be attempted by a Second Year.”

Scorpius took a deep breath, then another. He hated how at the mercy he was to his emotions.  
“I know. I’m good at Potions though. I have instructions. It will work. It has to.”

For a moment, there was silence in the small dungeon room. Scorpius screwed his eyes shut at an attempt to stop any further tears. When he opened them again the Slytherin ghost hovered in front of him with a remarkably concerned expression.

“Tell me, boy, why does it have to work? Who are you trying to put into a magically induced coma?”

A lump formed in Scorpius’ throat and he could only shrug in reply. 

“You can’t even bring yourself to say it, can you.” It wasn’t a question and it wasn’t said unkindly, which was odd coming from the Bloody Baron who wasn’t known to be the kind sort. Scorpius looked up to find the ghost contemplating him. 

“I have heard talk, boy. I know your mother is sick. This potion, it will not cure her.”

“I know that!” Scorpius growled the words, angry at the world in general. “I know it won’t cure her. But nobody else is doing anything to help her!” The tears were back and he clumsily swiped at them, this time not caring that the Bloody Baron saw.

“Aren’t they?” the ghost asked calmly. 

“NO! They do nothing. NOTHING. They just sit there and tell us they can’t do a thing! They have magic and they are not willing to use it.” A sob escaped and he took a shuddering breath. “I’m not giving up.”

“Who’s giving up?”

“EVERYONE! Everyone is giving up. The Healers, they’re supposed to heal her and they say there’s nothing they can do. Dad. Dad gave up. He gave up on mum.” Scorpius ended on a sob and this time he couldn’t stop the flood of tears. Still, he tried to explain in between shuddering breaths. “She just needs time. If only she had more time. They could find a cure. We have money. We can pay them to find it.”

“Dear boy,” the Bloody Baron shook his head as he spoke, “the curse your mother is afflicted with, it doesn’t have a cure. No amount of money will change that.”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW? YOU JUST GIVE UP LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE, TO WATCH EVERYONE GIVE UP ON YOUR MUM. I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE HER!” Scorpius screwed his eyes shut and continued quietly. “If I get this right, I’ll get her to drink it. She’ll be in a coma but she will be alive. And then, they can continue to work on a cure. It has to work.”

“You’re right. I don’t know what it is like to lose my mother like that. I do, however, know that there is no cure for her cursed blood. I have seen the curse work over the centuries, and no cure has ever been found. Centuries, boy. Hundreds of years and hundreds of very capable wizards and witches. No money can change the inevitable. I’m sorry, dear boy, but there is nothing anyone can do.” 

After some heavy silence, in which Scorpius resolutely looked away with an angry and anguished expression on his face, the Baron continued, “Is being in a magically induced coma truly considered living? She will not be with you, she will not see you, she will simply be, unseeing, unknowing until you finally let her go. Is that what she’d want? Do you not think she’d like to spend the time remaining to her with you? Go home, young Malfoy, and create memories with your mother before it is too late. You will regret if you don’t. Eternity isn’t long enough for regrets to leave you. Take my word on that.”

“I can’t.” It came out as a whisper. “I need her. I need mum.” Uncaring about the hard floor, he sank down and began to sob in earnest, grief washing over him in uncontrollable waves as realisation set in that, no matter what, he was going to lose her.


End file.
